TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – Kansas lawmakers have been considering a proposal that would allow utility companies to raise rates before the state approves the increases.

The Wichita Eagle reports that the proposal for “interim rates” is contained in a House bill that was proposed by natural gas companies. It was the subject of a hearing this week in the House Energy and Utilities Committee.

The measure would allow a utility company to increase rates 30 days after it files with the Kansas Corporation Commission for permission to increase rates. The commission has 240 days to consider rate hikes. The company would give refunds if the commission decides the utility is entitled to less than requested.

If the utility can’t find you, your refund goes into the state’s unclaimed property fund.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – Gov. Sam Brownback’s staff says he warned lawmakers not to violate the state’s open meetings law while attending dinners at Cedar Crest mansion.

Caleb Stegall, the governor’s counsel, said in a statement Tuesday that none of the private dinners attended by Republicans from 13 legislative committees violated the law. He said Brownback was careful to warn those attending the dinners that they could not discuss legislative business.

The open meetings law prohibits a voting majority of any government group from discussing business without giving the public notice and access to the meeting.

Stegall says once lawmakers were warned, the dinners become informational presentations, which don’t violate the law.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that some legislators who attended the dinners didn’t mention being warned about following the law.

RIVERTON, Kan. (AP) – Zombies will be invading southeast Kansas this spring and summer.

They’ll be in the Riverton area for a low-budget zombie apocalypse movie called “Zompocalypso.”

Eric B. Anderson and his wife, Amelia Dellos, who own Chicago-based Corn Bred Films, are making the movie.

Anderson, a native of Parsons, says he wants to highlight locations and actors in the Midwest. He says he hopes to use the family homestead outside of Riverton for the movie.

The Joplin Globe reports the movie revolves around two brothers. One is a free spirit and the other believes that zombies will cause the end of the world supposedly predicted by the Mayan calendar.

Anderson said he’s hoping to release the movie to be screened at independent movie houses by the end of the year.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) – A Wichita man admits that he collected more than a million images of child pornography.

In a plea deal Tuesday, 47-year-old Matthew Alter pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography.

Prosecutors said police began investigating Alter after police in Italy notified them that a computer user in Kansas was accessing a child porn website.

Investigators followed an electronic trail to Alter’s home in Wichita, where they found more than one million images of pornography involving children from 1 to 12 years old. Prosecutors say Alter collected child pornography for 11 years.

The Wichita Eagle reports that sentencing is set for April 16. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – A Kansas House committee is reviewing a proposal by Secretary of State Kris Kobach (KOH’-bahk) to speed up a requirement for some people registering to vote to show proof of citizenship.

Kobach was expected to testify during the Elections Committee’s meeting Wednesday morning.

A law enacted last year says people registering to vote for the first time in Kansas must provide proof of their citizenship starting in January 2013. Kobach wants the rule in effect by June 15, ahead of this year’s presidential election.

Kobach says the rule will combat election fraud. He also says voter registration traditionally surges in the months before a presidential election.

Critics worry the rule will suppress voter registration. They also question whether Kansans can be adequately educated about the requirement by June.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – A Kansas Senate committee is preparing to vote on a bill that would redraw the state’s U.S. House districts to reflect population changes over the past decade.

The bill on the Reapportionment Committee’s agenda Wednesday contains a plan from Chairman Tim Owens, an Overland Park Republican.

That plan moves the northeast Kansas community of Manhattan into the 1st Congressional District of western and central Kansas, something local officials oppose. It also puts all of Lawrence in the 2nd District of eastern Kansas, rather than splitting it between the 2nd and 3rd District, which is centered on the Kansas City area.

Owens is promising that committee members can propose alternatives.

The committee’s approval of the bill would send the redistricting plan to the Senate for debate.